A few were buried in coffins.
Most were laid to rest under a scattering of pine boughs.
 ADVERTISEMENT
|
|
The mass grave of children
and babies, more than two dozen of them, was uncovered by a
contractor's blade last month on the Blackfeet Reservation. They
lay outside the government-run Willow Creek boarding school, a
turn-of-the century establishment described by one historian as a
"gothic horror," as reported by Tribune Projects Editor Eric
Newhouse.
We may never know for sure how the children died, who wept for
them or, with certainty, whether they were students at the school.
After consulting with law enforcement officials, the tribe
carefully returned the remains to the grave.
It's possible that the bodies were not those of Willow Creek
pupils, says University of Montana historian Bill Farr. Operated as
a school from 1891 to 1909, the facility was later converted to a
small hospital where the children may have perished, Farr said.
However oral history and inspectors' reports point to the school.
We applaud the Blackfeet for their plans to build a memorial and
interpretive display at the site. Whether or not the grave's
occupants are students from Willow Creek, its discovery has dredged
up sins that must not be forgotten lest they're repeated.
In 1901 a federal government inspector by the name of McConnell
who visited the school wrote of two young boys locked in a
three-by-seven-foot meat refrigerator for a week in February. They
were fed only bread and water.
Dead mice and rotten vegetables floated in standing water under
the school's basement floor, brewing a stench that permeated the
second floor dormitories, according to another historian's report.
The Blackfeet agency physician warned of typhoid.
Tribal elders tell stories, passed on by their parents, of the
wind whistling through the building, of children not waking up in
the morning.
The tiny bones are a reminder of just how far we've come from
those Draconian days, when Indian children were wrested from their
families and sent to boarding schools to be "reformed" to white
ways.
But a century later, Indian children's prospects are still grim
compared with their peers.
At a meeting in Helena last week, Indian legislators from across
the country were told that Native American students lag far behind
their classmates.
Indian students are often performing two grade levels behind.
They're more likely to contemplate or commit suicide.
Obviously, we still have a long way to go to give all American
kids the childhood they deserve.
In light of the past and present, the Willow Creek story is one
that demands serious reflection by all of us.
Whether or not our direct ancestors were here at the turn of the
century, whether or not they lived and worked in Indian Country, the
story of Willow Creek is part of our collective history as Montanans
and Americans.
greatfallstribune.com
